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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes Watershore And Beach Advisory Committee - 09/01/2016 WATERSHORE AND BEACH ADVISORY COMMITTEE MEETING Regular Called Meeting, Thursday, September 1, 2016 5:30 p.m. Staff Conference Room, City Hall 1201 Leopard Street, Corpus Christi, TX Members Present Members Absent Staff Present Cameron Perry Jay Gardner Russell Armstrong Cliff Schlabach Mukesh Subedee Martha Lawhon Carrie Robertson Meyer Jennifer Pollack Jyoti Patel Joseph DePalma Paulette Kluge I. CALL TO ORDER Meeting called to order at 5:30 p.m. II. ROLL CALL The roll was called and a quorum was present. I. ADOPTION OF MINUTES Minutes from the August 4, 2016 meeting were distributed for review and approval. Cliff made a motion to accept the minutes as presented, Cameron seconded, unanimously approved. Motion passed. IV. HEAR FROM THE PUBLIC— Dotson Lewis from Parks and Recreation Advisory Committee attended this meeting and will be attending the WBAC meeting regularly. The other person in attendance spoke about the current minor high tide and that reminded her of the beach situation last September, the reverse grade of the beach, which created "lakes". She stated that the shoreline is healing itself but with this minor high tide some water is being trapped beyond the artificial elevation. She wanted to remind beach operations not to put the beach in the same situation as last year. V. BUSINESS FOR DISCUSSION/ACTION 1 New Business a. RVs on the beach Joe wanted to open this item up to discussion within this committee. This weekend will be a true test of the situation. RVs currently are allowed to camp on the beach for 3 days, no matter the size of the RV, and they set up in locations that are directly in front on hotels and condominiums, thereby impacting access and view to people staying those accommodations. Port Aransas has an ordinance stating that on holiday weekends RVs are not allowed on the beach and that maybe Corpus Christi needs an ordinance like that. Russ reported that there is no camping allowed in front of the seawall, and any established business. The new enforcement officer has been brought up to speed on this topic. Russ also stated that vehicles are to be off the beach by midnight. He also noted that there is not an ordinance that addresses noise and maybe that should be looked at. Russ is planning on meeting with PD before the holiday weekend and update them on all of these issues. It was suggested that signage regarding this ordinance (camping in front of the seawall)would be useful. Russ is working on getting "business cards" that will have all the ordinances on it that refer to the beach activities. Cameron made a motion to have Staff look into amending the existing ordinance, Paulette seconded, motion passed. b. Vehicular access along the South Packery Channel This issue has been resolved. According to the Packery Channel Project this area is coded as a public beach and the code doesn't address vehicle traffic. Russ' concern about the area in question is that the sand is very soft, there is a lot of trash left there, and that this area is not maintained by Beach Operations. This area is part of the Packery Channel Plan and one day will be maintained but meanwhile people are driving back there and destroying the vegetation and some people are living there. Cliff would like it to stay the way it is; open for fishing but doesn't want vehicles driving on the dunes or vegetation. c. Proposed beach signage Paulette and Eliva Aguilar presented a sign presentation. First she showed the committee some of the existing signs and then she presented several designs for the new signs. After viewing several designs 2 the committee preferred the "modern" one. Blue signs will be the happy signs, orange signs will be the "no" signs & red signs will be for rip currents. Paulette also let the committee know that CCVB owns the website "surfcc.com" and this site will update the public on surfing conditions & rip currents and other needed information. Cameron made a motion that this committee recommends the options provided by the CCVB. Jyoti made a motion to recommend this, Cliff seconded, motion passed. 2 Old Business a. ISAC Update ISAC has not met since this committees' last meeting. b. Update on the plastic bag ban The Laredo case was settled in favor of the merchants, not the city and only involves the city. The people in favor of the ban on the island are going forward with this. The City's attorney is currently working on this ban. c. Update -Spraying herbicides along street ROW; what is it? Cliff reported that he heard from a company called DBI Services and they were concerned with why Cliff was asking these questions. After going "round and round" Cliff was told that it was Roundup that was being sprayed. Cliff asked why such a large area and he was told that the applicator did not get adjusted and the 2 people involved have been fired. Cliff was also told that the spraying will continue until the City tells DBI to stop. Cameron believes that the department that is in charge of this spraying is probably Storm Water or Streets. Jennifer suggested that this committee might like to hear a presentation done by a graduate student on the effects of herbicides. VI. STAFF LIASON REPORT • Russell reported that Beach Operations is gearing up for Labor Day weekend. Enforcement is ready, permit sellers have brochures dealing with the rip currents and what the flag colors mean, ready to hand out along with trash bags. Lifeguards are scheduled to be on the Gulf Beach from 10 am to 8pm and on McGee from Noon to 6 pm. • Russell had pictures of McGee beach that shows "puddling", his point being that this beach is not maintained, doesn't have vehicle traffic and it has puddles. • North Beach's enforcement officer is close to being hired but it will not happen before Labor Day weekend. When the enforcement officers are all hired there will be 5 of them: 3 in town and 2 at the Gulf. All of these officers will be trained together so that if needed one officer could work at a different location. The plan is to have regular meeting with PD and other law officials periodically. The Gulf Beach Officers will also patrol the Island Parks. • Cliff reported that PD has had more of a presence on the beach lately. • Carrie wanted the committee to know that NBCA (North Beach Community Association)was to get a full time (dedicated) Park enforcement officer on an ATV in lieu of lifeguards. • Cliff wanted to acknowledge Martha's work. VII. IDENTIFY ITEMS TO BE PLACED ON NEXT AGENDA 1. ISAC Update 2. Graduate Student presentation on herbicides 3. Spraying herbicide: Storm Water or the responsible department 4. RVs on the beach 5. State HOT Funds Update/Improvements VIII. ADJOURNMENT As there was no further business, Joe made a motion to adjourn the meeting, Cameron seconded the motion. Meeting adjourned at 6:34 p.m. Martha Lawhon, Management Assistant C:\Users\Tam era rWppdata\Local\Microsoft\Windows\Temporary Internet Files\Content.Outlook\ZQFLP32G\090116 Minutes-Cp Edits Final.Doc